This invention relates generally to hydraulic accumulators, and more particularly to accumulators of the bladder sleeve type in which an elastic sleeve divides the accumulator chamber into fluid and gas cavities.
The prior art is prolific in accumulator designs which employ expandable sleeve bladders within accumulators to define two chambers of varying volume. One chamber contains a precharge gas, and the other chamber a hydraulic oil which is to be confined within the accumulator at a high pressure. In many of these sleeve bladder designs, a perforated cylindrical stop tube is positioned within an outer cylindrical tube-like housing. The sleeve bladder is disposed between the inner tube and the cylindrical housing, and it is the only element that separates the hydraulic oil from the gas. In certain designs, the hydraulic oil is on the outside of the sleeve bladder and the gas is on the inside, for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 2,278,688.
The accumulator designs of the prior art employing bladder sleeves use fasteners or threaded components in order to maintain the accumulator assembly. The use of these fasteners or threaded components results in a relatively time consuming assembly operation. In the event of accumulator malfunction, the disassembly for purposes of internal inspection and repair also requires a time consuming operation.